For more than a century, the name Orient Express has been synonymous with luxurious train travel. It’s taken on a fresh meaning in recent years as interest in train travel has spiked. New Orient Express routes are keeping the magic of that name alive, the latest being the La Dolce Vita Orient Express, with ticket sales starting in April after a presale period that started in December 2022. (Impressively, 400 cabins have been pre-booked since that time.)
Photo: La Dolce Vita Orient Express
La Dolce Vita in Luxury: Photos of Italy's New Orient Express Train Showcase Opulent Travel
It’s the first Orient Express experience to partner with the luxury Italian hospitality company Arsenale. As the name suggests, this is opulence done the Italian way for a made-in-Italy theme.
Photo: La Dolce Vita Orient Express
“The train pays tribute to the years of ‘La Dolce Vita,’ a fantastic period of history, to the artistic and cultural fervor of Italy in the 1960s,” a press release explains. That means channeling the “Italian way of life” along each journey with a restaurant, lounge, and bar. Guests can stay in one of 12 deluxe cabins, 18 suites, or the premium “La Dolce Vita” suite. Throughout it all, the art and design pulls from ‘60s and ‘70s.
Photo: La Dolce Vita Orient Express
La Dolce Vita Orient Express will have nine journeys, the first starting in spring 2025:
- Venice to Portofino
- Venice to Siena
- Matera to Palena
- A wine journey in Montalcino
- A wine and truffle trip in the wine region of Monferrato
- Maratea to Palermo
- Palermo to Rome
- A train trip through Sicily
- A trip around Sicily and the Mediterranean
Photo: La Dolce Vita Orient Express
Regardless of the route, guests will be treated to service from international chefs and sommeliers who will bring Italian food and fine wine to the experience. Luxury isn’t just on the trains, either. The Rome Ostiense station, for example, has a La Dolce Vita lounge to enjoy before boarding.
“Today marks a concrete step towards the realization of a dream for many, but also the beginning of a new Italian frontier in the luxury market,” Arsenale Group CEO Paolo Barletta says in a press release. “We have created a new market segment: Rail cruises, and the response from pre-bookings has already signaled the success of this initiative. Italy can once again play a leading role, not only nationally but also internationally in the world of tourism, increasingly intercepting high-end tourism and creating a winning model. That’s why we have decided to invest in a unique product capable of creating the conditions to welcome millions of travelers in a new, entirely Italian form of slow, sustainable, and luxury tourism”
Photo: La Dolce Vita Orient Express
This level of luxury, of course, comes with a price. One-night itineraries start at €3,500 (about $3,800) per person for a deluxe cabin and €4,700 (about $5,100) per person for a suite.
Note that Accor’s La Dolce Vita Orient Express is not to be confused with Belmond’s Venice Simplon-Orient Express. 